No holiday from violence in Brockton

Sunday

Apr 20, 2014 at 9:52 AMApr 20, 2014 at 9:35 PM

An uptick in violence leads to a meeting on Easter morning between the Brockton Police Chief Robert Hayden and Mayor Bill Carpenter.

BROCKTON – While many people were in church, hunting for eggs or preparing a ham on Easter morning, the mayor and the police chief were holding a meeting after a deadly shooting in the city on Saturday – the third killing in eight days. “At 4:45 Sunday morning I was being briefed by the chief of detectives,” said Mayor Bill Carpenter. The Easter morning meeting was called by Police Chief Robert Hayden at the police station, he said.

State police and Brockton detectives also attended. It was a large-scale meeting to discuss the most recent homicide investigations. Saturday’s homicide comes one week after a violent spree in the city saw one person shot to death in The Lit bar, another victim stabbed to death in downtown and a running shootout and chase on the West Side of Brockton.

“We are not going to rest until the residents feel safe. People need to know we are making every effort to we can,” Carpenter said.

Additional weekend police patrols, including state troopers have been working the past two weekends he said.

“We are trying to make a very clear statement that we are not going to tolerate violence,” Carpenter said. “We have a squad room full of detectives not home with their families this Easter working on these cases.”

A joint press conference with Hayden and Mayor Carpenter to discuss the uptick in violence was scheduled for today at 11 a.m. at the Brockton police station.

“I don’t want to sit at home on Easter,” Hayden said on Sunday. “I want to reinforce my commitment to the city.”

Some of the strategies that police are looking at include putting more police on the street until 3 a.m. during the weekends as well as increasing the dialogue between the police patrols and the detectives, Hayden said.

Christopher Rosario, 25, of Dorchester was shot to death early Saturday morning on Grove Street. Police responded to reports of gunfire there at 2:25 a.m.

They found Rosario shot in a gray Honda sedan that had come to rest against a fence along the Brockton Brightfields solar panel farm. He was was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators said he had just left Morabeza Nightclub on Main Street in Brockton and was attacked by someone in a car that pulled up alongside his vehicle, according to the Plymouth County district attorney's office.

The owner of the Honda was the passenger during the shooting and was taken to Good Samaritan Medical Center, said police. The district attorney's office declined to give more details about the passenger.

Police found 13 shell casings at the scene. The shooting is being investigated by state police detectives assigned to the district attorney’s office and Brockton police.

Ward 1 City Councilor Tim Cruise said Hayden’s plans for increased police presence is a good start.

“I’d be very interested to hear more plans and the push to get more patrols on the streets,” he said on Sunday.

“We need to get these guns off the streets,” Cruise said.

Jennifer Bray may be reached at jbray@enterprisenews.com or follow her on Twitter @JenniferB_ENT.